the magicians did so

8:7 the magicians did so. Pharaoh’s magicians were somehow able to duplicate the first two plagues. Whether this was by means of demonic power or by deception is not stated. More likely it was the latter, just as with the serpents, since neither Satan nor his fallen angels are able to create (only God is the Creator), but they are deceivers, and able to generate deceptive hallucinations in the minds of those who desire to reject God and His will. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the magicians were unable either to cure the waters or disperse the frogs, which Pharaoh would certainly have preferred to their merely mimicking Moses.